Thoroughbred horse racing to return to Hazel Park this summer

Thoroughbred horse races will return to Hazel Park after a nearly three-decade absence.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board authorized a revamped live racing schedule for Hazel Park Raceway and Northville Downs this week, marking Metro Detroit’s first thoroughbred meet since Pinnacle Race Course in Huron Township closed in 2010.

Under the new schedule, proposed in a five-year deal hatched between the tracks and the Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Hazel Park Raceway would conduct a 10-day standardbred meet from April 12 to May 3, running Fridays through Sundays.

Construction to convert the five-eighths-mile track for thoroughbred races would begin soon after. Costs up to $300,000 would be covered by the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, although the final total is unclear.

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Once the track’s ready, a 32-day thoroughbred and mixed-breed meet would be held at Hazel Park from June 29 to Oct. 11. Live racing would take place on Fridays and Saturdays.

A similar application by Northville Downs was previously denied by the Michigan Gaming Control Board Dec. 18, but in an amended executive order issued Jan. 20, it said the track provided additional requested information to reconsider the request.

Northville Downs will run a 10-day standardbred meet on Fridays and Saturdays from March 7 to April 5. Then, a 16-day thoroughbred meet will be held Oct. 12 to Nov. 16, with live races running Fridays through Sundays.

The deal would keep thoroughbred meets at both tracks until 2019.

George M. Kutlenios, president of the Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said in a statement this week: “The Michigan HBPA and horsemen and women of our sport are ecstatic with this new relationship between Hazel Park and our organization ... Hazel Park’s principals are making a large investment in the future of Michigan’s pari-mutuel wagering and our HBPA is a willing partner and participant to assist them in every way possible.”

Michigan’s horse racing industry has been in decline for years, but Kutlenios said that trend is changing.

“There needs to be significant changes in the format of horse racing for the fans and new opportunities for the tracks and the horsemen to participate in other forms of revenue at the tracks, like Advanced Deposit Wagering and horse racing video lottery terminals.”

Hazel Park Raceway hasn’t ran a thoroughbred meet since 1985. Northville Downs has never ran thoroughbreds since opening in 1944.

The Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association said they’ll appeal the gaming board’s decision, citing the “dramatically” reduced schedule for standardbred races and the moved starting date for the meet.

“The financial state of our horsemen, who collectively lost well over $1 million in 2013, is more dire than the tracks’,” the statement said. “Shoring up their bottom line on the backs of our horsemen is not a reasonable solution.”

The statement continued, “We are horrified by the (state gaming board’s) decision and have expressed our concerns about both the moral and legal implication’s of today’s orders ... Time will tell if the tracks’ apparent strategy to wrestle complete control of the industry away from the horsemen will succeed, but there is no question that the short term impact will be harmful to thousands of horsemen — not to mention countless local agricultural economies around the state.”

Last year, live-racing bettors wagered $6.9 million at Michigan’s four tracks, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board, down from $7.9 million in 2011. Simulcast wagering raked in $131.2 million in 2012, down from $137 million in 2011.

Through Sept. 30 of this year, bettors wagered $99.4 million between live and simulcast racing, likely representing a continued decline over 2012.

The state gaming board said the horse racing budget for fiscal year 2014 is $2,313,500 million, which funds 124 racing days.

The deal to bring thoroughbred racing back to Hazel Park is under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Gaming Control Board because of an executive order passed by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2009.

The order dissolved the Office of the Racing Commissioner and moved responsibility to the gaming board.